The Arlington Assembly of God, Flanked by Culpepper Gardens and Big Pink I don’t know if the blessing of the giant Jesus figure on Route 50 helped to save my life that day I fled Washington ahead of the regular troops. After all, just a few years later I was one of the regular troops. […]

If there was ever a place that represented Arlington on the skids, it was Whitey’s. The place anchored the northeast side of the corner of Pershing and Washington Boulevard where the old trolley tracks ran up to Lyon Village, the stop before the original Buckingham Village development east of Glebe Road. The people fleeing the […]

History is a lot easier when everyone in it is dead. They cannot talk back at you, though I feel sometimes their yelling, muted by the tomb. It is harder when the participants can talk right back at you, even if the language is different. Frances Freed is the key to Big Pink, its quirks […]

The family called the lanky dark-haired kid Link, and the name stuck. The other one he liked was “Commander,” which was the rank he made in the Navy, flying carrier aircraft in the days before jets. He was pretty good at it, which means that his reflexes were quick and he enjoyed an adrenaline rush. […]

During the Trojan War, it is said that the Amazons came to the aid of King Priam in his struggle with the Greeks. They came from their country on the southern coast of the Black Sea, led by Queen Penthesilia. She had a reputation as a formidable warrior. Her Amazons also had great prowess in […]

TC Williams Titans Football Team, 1971 I walked by the demolition area on the way to pick up the Mercedes after work. The windows of this segment of the Buckingham I area are blown out, as if by blast. Refrigerators stand in a group, rectangular white soldiers, behind the chain link. The destruction is methodical, […]

Building “B,” Arlington Hall Station Arlington Hall kept its secrets well from everyone in the Buckingham neighborhood. Workers at the super secret facility knew better than to tell even their most intimate companions about what was being done behind the fence at the Girl’s School across Route 50. The secrets were held from the US […]

I always try to stop by the annual rummage sale at the Methodist church on the parcel west of Big Pink. I can’t tell you precisely what I am looking for, but I do know that I recognize it when I see it. It would be something associated with the Army of a certain era, […]

First Speech: Milestone Zero, Route 50, Washington, DC I had intended to be further along in the saga of Big Pink and the grand history of the Buckingham neighborhood this morning, but football and baseball issues intruded on my schedule. I am completely confident that Ike Eisenhower would agree with my priorities, since he was […]

We were at Fort Myer in the rain last night for the annual formal dinner of our little tribe of Spooks. It had been falling pervasively through the day, a steady soaking. It was inconvenient to be in Black Tie in the wet, since winged collars tended to droop immediately, and the jaunty bow ties […]